A work of art can be distinctive in, of, and by itself. Yet, its impact and power can be enhanced by setting it within just the right kind of “frame”, and not just a physical frame.
In science-fiction and fantasy pulp art of the 1950s and early 60s, prominent examples of how art could be framed – visually framed, that is – were the Galaxy Science Fiction and Beyond Fantasy Fiction, pulp magazines which utilized the same general cover design. Cover illustrations were set within the lower right corner of the cover “landscape”, with all textual information – magazine title, names of authors and stories, and mundane but necessary information like selling price and date of issue – located within the top and left margins. This design could capture a passing reader’s attention with great effect, and, give the publications a somewhat “arty” (pardon the pun!) look. Hey, if the only thing you know about a story is its title and the name of its author, the cover art has to be its biggest selling point!
A memorable example of this style of cover design took prominence from the mid-1980s through early 1990s, in Random House’s Vintage Contemporaries series, which eventually comprised 89 novels as both reprints and works by contemporary authors.
In a general sense, two cover designs were used for the series: A more traditional style, with a work of art occupying the entirety of the cover and text superimposed upon it, and, the style alluded to above, in which a cover painting comprised only a portion of the front “real estate”. This latter style involved placing the illustration within the cover’s right center and “framing” it by white space alone its top, bottom, and left margins. The author’s name was situated in the upper right corner, as white text on a colored rectangular field – said color being repeated on the upper spine, with the author’s surname again superimposed in white. On the front cover, the book’s title was set just below the author’s name, just above the main illustration. Another cover element was a rectangular grid of subtle gray dots to the upper left of the cover painting, which kind of broke up the monotony of white space, and at the same time, balanced the cover art.
All this might read kind of technical, but when you actually look at the Vintage Contemporaries covers, they stand out for the catchy and pleasing effectiveness of the overall design. Well, that’s why I bought a few of them – !.
You can read much more about the design history of the Vintage Contemporaries covers at TalkingCovers, a blog created by Sean Manning (Vice President and Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster), which was active from May of 2012 through November of 2013. (Though quite fortunately, it’s still “up and running” and entirely accessible!) As described in its descriptive blurb: “Talking Covers is a blog where authors, designers, and artists join to discuss a particular book cover. It is edited by Sean Manning. He is the author of the memoir The Things That Need Doing and editor of the nonfiction anthologies The Show I’ll Never Forget, Rock and Roll Cage Match, Top of the Order, and Bound to Last. He has written for The Village Voice, Esquire.com, The Daily Beast, Deadspin, USA Today, The Awl, and elsewhere, and he is a frequent guest commentator on WNYC’s music talk show Soundcheck.”
Mr. Manning’s post about Vintage Contemporaries, created on September 12, 2012, can be accessed right h e r e.
To quote just a little bit:
“Editor Gary Fisketjon launched Vintage Contemporaries, a paperback imprint of Random House, in September 1984. There were seven initial titles. By decade’s end, there would be close to 100. The line was a mix of reprints and originals, and nearly thirty years later the checklist found in the back of the books reads like a ballot for some Cooperstown of late-20th Century fiction.”
“The person who came up with the uniform, De Stijl layout, and the one whose name can be found on the back of those hundred or so books – that was Lorraine Louie.”
“The series was a critical and commercial success; Bright Lights, Big City sold 300,000 copies in two years, and publishers raced to start their own knock-off imprints. But by the early nineties, personnel and tastes within Vintage Contemporaries had changed and the design was phased out.”
It’s a long, pithy, and fascinating post, highlighted with numerous examples of Vintage Contemporaries covers, as well as comments by authors, editors, and artists involved in the production of the series. They comprise, in order of appearance in the post (scrolling from top to bottom):
Comments by Mark Tauss, artist
Far Tortuga, by Peter Matthiessen
The Chosen Places, The Timeless People
Dancing Bear, by James Crumley
Dancing in The Dark, by Janet Hobhouse
Comments by Jay McInerney, author
Bright Lights, Big City
Ransom
Story of My Life
Comments by Thomas McGuane, author
The Bushwacked Piano
To Skin A Cat
Nobody’s Angel
Something to Be Desired
Excerpt from Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life by Carol Skelnicka
Where I’m Calling From
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Fires
Cathedral
Comments by Maxine Chernoff, author
Bop
Comments by Rick Lovell, artist
Airships, by Barry Hannah
Fiskadoro, by Denis Johnson
Norwood, by Charles Portis
The Car Thief, by Theodore Weesner
The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford
Comments by Richard Ford, author
A Piece of My Heart
The Ultimate Good Luck
Rock Springs
Comments by Joy Williams, author
Taking Care
Breaking & Entering
State of Grace
Comments by Paul Hoover, author
Saigon, Illinois
Comments by Jill Eisenstadt, author
From Rockaway
Comments by Steve Erickson, author
Days Between Stations
Rubicon Beach
Comments by Chris Moore, artist
Platitudes, by Trey Ellis (with comments by Trey Ellis, author)
Angels, by Dennis Johnson
Myra Breckenridge and Myron, by Gore Vidal
Steps, by Jerzy Kosinski
Lulu Incognito, by Raymond Kennedy
Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons
Comments by Patricia Mulcahy, editor
Comments by Michael Downing, author
A Narrow Time
Comments by Peter Davies, author
The Last Election
Comments by Lowry Pei, author
Family Resemblances
Comments by Gary Krist, author
The Garden State
Excerpt from A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates by Blake Bailey
Revolutionary Road
The Easter Parade
Comments by Mary LaChapelle, author
House of Heroes
Comments by Susan Daitch, author
The Colorist
Comments by Valerie Martin, author
A Recent Martyr
The Consolation of Nature
Mr. Manning’s post opens with an image of the checklist of Vintage Contemporaries titles. Rather than copy and paste directly from his blog, I’ve OCR’d these scans to come up with this list of all titles in the series. They’re listed alphabetically by book title, each title followed by author’s name, price, and ISBN.
Airships, by Barry Hannah – $5.95 – 394-72913-7
All Girl Football Team, The, by Lewis Nordan – $5.95 – 394-75701-7
Angels, by Denis Johnson – $7.95 – 394-75987-7
Anywhere But Here, by Mona Simpson – $6.95 – 394-75559-6
Asa, as I Knew Him, by Susanna Kaysen – $4.95 – 394-74985-5
Bad Behavior, by Mary Gaitskill – $7.95 – 679-72327-7
Beginning of Sorrows, The, by David Martin – $7.95 – 679-72459-1
Bop, by Maxine Chernoff – $5.95 – 394-75522-7
Breaking and Entering, by Joy Williams – $6.95 – 394 75773-4
______________________________
Movietime!
Bright Lights. Big City, by Jay Mclnerney – $5.95 – 394-72641-3
You can view the full movie at ok.ru.
______________________________
Bushwhacked Piano, The, by Thomas McGuane – $5.95 – 394-72642-1
California Bloodstock, by Terry McDonell – $8.95 – 679 72168-1
Car Thief, The, by Theodore Weesner – $6.95 – 394 74097 1
Carnival for the Gods, by Gladys Swan – $6.95 – 394-74330-
Cathedral, by Raymond Carver – $6.95 – 679-72369-2
Chosen Place, the Timeless People, The, by Paule Marshall – $6.95 – 394 72633-2
Clea & Zeus Divorce, by Emily Prager – $6.95 – 394 75591-
Colorist, The, by Susan Daitch – $7.95 – 679-72492-3
Commitments, The, by Roddy Doyle – $6.95 – 679-72174-6
Consolation of Nature and Other Stories, The, by Valerie Martin – $6.95 – 679 72159-2
Dancing Bear, by James Crumley – $6.95 – 394-72576-
Dancing in the Dark, by Janet Hobhouse – $5.95 – 394-72588-3
Days Between Stations, by Steve Erickson – $6.95 – 394-74685-6
Debut, The, by Anita Brookner – $6.95 – 679-72712-4
Easter Parade, The, by Richard Vales – $8.95 – 679-72230-0
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, by Richard Yates – $8.95 – 679 72221-1
Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons – $5.95 – 394-75757-2
Family Resemblances, by Lowry Pei – $6.95 – 394-75528-6
Fan’s Notes, A, by Frederick Exley – $7.95 – 679 72076-6
Fat City, by Leonard Gardner – $6.95 – 394-74316-4
Fires, by Raymond Carver – $7.95 – 679-72239-4
First Love and Other Sorrows, by Harold Brodkey – $7.95 – 679-72075-8
Fiskadoro, by Denis Johnson – $6.95 – 394-74367-9
From Rockaway, by Jill Eisenstadt – $6.95 – 394 75761-0
______________________________
Movietime!
Garden State, The, by Gary Krist – $7.95 – 679 72515-6
The full film can be viewed at ok.ru.
______________________________
Great Jones Street, by Don DeLillo – $7.95 – 679-72303-
Handbook for Visitors From Outer Space, A, by Kathryn Kramer – $5.95 – 394-72989-7
House of Heroes and Other Stories, by Mary LaChapelle – $7.95 – 679-72457-5
I Look Divine, by Christopher Coe – $5.95 – 394-75995-8
Last Election, The, by Pete Davies – $6.95 – 394-74702-
Last Good Kiss, The, by James Crumley – $6.95 – 394-75989-3
Last Notes from Home, by Frederick Exley – $8.95 – 679-72456-7
Latecomers, by Anita Brookner – $7.95 – 679-72668-3
Love Always, by Ann Beattie – $5.95 – 394-74418-7
Lulu Incognito, by Raymond Kennedy – $7.95 – 394-75641-
Mama Day, by Gloria Naylor – $8.95 – 679-72181-9
Mezzanine, The, by Nicholson Baker – $7.95 – 679-72576-8
Mohawk, by Richard Russo – $8.95 – 679 72577-6
Myra Breckinridge and Myron, by Gore Vidal – $8.95 – 394-75444-1
Names, The, by Don DeLillo – $7.95 – 679-72295-5
Narrow Time, A, by Michael Downing – $6.95 – 394-75568-5
Nobody’s Angel, by Thomas McGuane – $6.95 – 394-74738-0
Norwood, by Charles Portis – $5.95 – 394- 72931-5
November, by Janet Hobhouse – $6.95 – 394-74665-1
One to Count Cadence, by James Crumley – $5.95 – 394-73559-5
Pages from a Cold Island, by Frederick Exley – $6.95 – 394-75977-
Piece of My Heart, A, by Richard Ford – $6.95 – 394-72914-5
Platitudes, by Trey Ellis – $6.95 – 394-75439-5
Player, The, by Michael Tolkin – $7.95 – 679-72254-8
Players, by Don DeLillo – $7.95 – 679-72293-9
Rabbit Boss, by Thomas Sanchez – $8.95 – 679 72621-7
Ransom, by Jay Mclnerney – $5.95 – 394-74118-8
Ratner’s Star, by Don DeLillo – $8.95 – 679-72292-0
Recent Martyr, A, by Valerie Martin – $7.95 – 679-72158-4
Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates – $8.95 – 679-72191-6
Risk Pool, The, by Richard Russo – $8.95 – 679 72334-
River Dogs, by Robert Olmstead – $6.95 – 394-74684 8
Rock Springs, by Richard Ford – $6.95 – 394-75700-9
Rubicon Beach, by Steve Erickson – $6.95 – 394-75513-8
Running Dog, by Don DeLillo – $7.95 – 679-72294-7
Saigon, Illinois, by Paul Hoover – $6.95 – 394-75849-8
Selected Stories, by Andre Dubus – $9.95 – 679-72533-4
Soft Water, by Robert Olmstead – $6.95 – 394 75752-1
Something to Be Desired, by Thomas McGuane – $4.95 – 394 73156-5
Sportswriter, The, by Richard Ford – $6.95 – 394-74325-3
Stars at Noon, The, by Denis Johnson – $5.95 – 394 75427-1
Steps, by Jerzy Kosinski – $5.95 – 394-75716-5
Stories in an Almost Classical Mode, by Harold Brodkey – $12.95 – 679-72431-1
Story of My Life, by Jay Mclnerney – $6.95 – 679 72257-2
Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy – $6.95 – 394-74145-5
Taking Care, by Joy Williams – $5.95 – 394 72912-9
To Skin a Cat, by Thomas McGuane – $5.95 – 394-75521-9
Ultimate Good Luck, The, by Richard Ford – $5.95 – 394-75089-6
Visit From the Footbinder, A, by Emily Prager – $6.95 – 394 75592-8
Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair, by Lewis Nordan – $6.95 – 679-72164-9
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver – $6.95 – 679-72305-6
Where l’m Calling From, by Raymond Carver – $8.95 – 679-72231-9
Within Normal Limits, by Todd Grimson – $5.95 – 394-74617-1
Wrong Case, The, by James Crumley – $5.95 – 394-73558-7
Just one reference…
“Lorraine Louie and the Art of Vintage Contemporaries” – T. Kimball Brooker Prize Essay / Samuel Puliafito